Case 53

Case 53s, known to Cauldron as Deviants<ref name ="I28e1"> What Alexandria had termed Case fifty-threes, after the fifty third file in a series of unresolved, difficult-to-explain parahuman events, one of the only ones to truly develop in their records. The Doctor had termed them deviants. - Excerpt from Interlude 28</ref> or Subjects,<ref name="11.7">Infestation 11.7</ref> were amnesiac parahumans, usually with severe physical alterations, branded with a "C". They were so-called because their origin was the 53rd anomalous case investigated by the PRT.<ref name ="I28e1"/>

Image from user darchiasq on spacebattles

Details

Case 53s were found in out of the way locations in urban areas across North America and around the world.<ref name="26.x">There were countless messages pouring in, each something that had been flagged as a point of interest for Dragon. Every message on Parahumans Online that contained the word Scion or the phrase ‘end of the world’, every reference to a class-S threat, even crime scene reports that raised questions.
He pored through them. Some kid inquiring about an Endbringer cult. A case fifty-three appearance in Ireland, with deaths. A woman claiming she could control Scion. A tinker claiming he had a bomb that could start a new ice age.--Excerpt from Interlude 26.x</ref> They all had retrograde amnesia, with their first memories being waking up in a strange city.<ref name="5.x">Interlude 5</ref>

All Case 53s were marked with the same brand, tattoo, or mark; resembling variously a Greek Omega, a strange latin 'U', or even a stylized 'C'.

Case 53s were monstrous in appearance, though exceptions like Shamrock exist. As the years passed Case 53's were increasingly less "monstrous" as time went on. Faultline estimated that four out of five monstrous parahumans were Case 53s.<ref name="5.x">Interlude 5</ref>

Origin

Case 53s were the results of experiments by Cauldron, successful in creating parahumans who did not immediately die from their physical mutations. They had their memories erased by the Slug to prevent them from sharing Cauldron's secrets, and Cauldron's symbol (a "C" drawn to resemble a stylized cauldron) branded or tattooed onto them with an ID number<ref name="SB1">Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> hidden in the right ‘arm' of the tattoo that each subject received; disguised as small spots where the tattoo hadn't taken.<ref name="21.x"> 21.x (Donation Interlude 1; Number Man)</ref>

Case 53s were usually taken from situations where they were about to die, their injuries healed or compensated for by their powers.<ref name="15.z">Interlude 15.z</ref> Cauldron would experiment on these "subjects" by giving them doses of formula to test the results.<ref name="11.7"/><ref name ="I28"/> Only two in five survived.<ref name="11.7"/> Those who were physically transformed, becoming monsters, were known as "deviations" or "deviant cases" regardless of whether they were test subjects or customers. This possibility could be reduced using the balance formula, but it also reduced the strength of the resulting powers.<ref name ="I28">Interlude 28</ref>

Only about two-thirds of Case 53s are monstrous.<ref name="15.z"/> Some Case 53s were put towards the "Nemesis program", released with their memories erased<ref name="11.7"/> and key weaknesses inserted into their psyches.<ref name="15.z"/> Having noticed that Scion reacted aversively to some Cauldron capes, Cauldron deliberately spread Case 53s in areas where they were active, in order to distract him.<ref name="29.6">Venom 29.6</ref> Less than a hundred "deviants" were released onto Earth Bet.<ref name ="I28"/> The vast majority were kept as prisoners in second basement level of the Cauldron Compound.<ref name="15.z"/><ref name="21.x"/> Some of them became brainwashed Cauldron operatives.<ref name="11.7"/><ref name="21.x"/>

Case 53's are harder to predict with prescient powers than other capes.^{[citation needed]} Like all Cauldron capes, they had a far lesser tendency toward conflict than natural triggers.<ref name="SB2">Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref><ref name="R1">Comment by Wildbow on Would You Take a Drink? on Reddit</ref><ref name="R2">Comment by Wildbow on Did Canary's shard...? on Reddit</ref>

References

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